All Blog Entries by Aaron Agsalda

If you’ve even thought about purchasing a home, you’re already aware of the industry standard in home-buying: 20% down for a mortgage loan. The absence of that amount of cash is enough to defer the dream of home ownership for many. But this doesn’t have to be the case for everyone…

Why is 20% such a magic number in the first place? From the lender’s perspective, offering you more than 80% of the value of the home is a huge risk. Why? Well, statistically speaking, a buyer who hasn’t had the income or financial habits to save that amount of money is more likely to default on their mortgage loan. Nothing personal, these are just the facts.

Buyers this past summer got a great deal on their loans, with interest rates at around 3.5%. Since then, rates have shot up from 3.5% to 4.5%. How are interest rates priced anyway? And what do rising interest rates mean for the housing market and the economy overall? Should anyone still consider buying a home right now?

Pricing interest rates

Let's start with the first question: how are interest rates priced? Economics writer Paul Solman offers some insight:

Think of a market interest rate as the sum of three separate factors: waiting, repayment risk, and inflation.

1. First, waiting — also known as the time value of money. Imagine an inflation-free environment, such as today’s. Which would you take: a thousand dollars today or a

Our sellers did a killer job on renovations to this already valuable piece of property in Mililani Mauka. Thanks in large part to their hard work, we were able to go into escrow today after just 4 days on the market!
Some of their upgrades include all new flooring throughout, a wide open kitchen with brand new cabinetry, granite countertops, and all new appliances; fresh paint on the interior and exterior; and a brand new washer and dryer.
This two-story home on a corner lot has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and a flat and grassy back yard.
Mililani Mauka was developed about 20 years after Mililani Town, on the other side of Interstate H-2. "Mililani" literally means "heavenly caress"…

Hawaii’s hottest summer and coldest winter coincide with all-time highs in Oahu median home prices. Maybe it’s time we talk about the weather.

Research suggests that Hawaii's unusual temperatures last year may have been a factor in driving up Oahu home prices.

Last September, two Hawaii cities reported the highest summer temperatures in over 100 years. "It really is significantly warmer than what we typically have," said meteorologist Chris Brenchley. He added that, once humidity was factored in, "We started to see those heat index values in the high 90's, even in the triple digits."

That month, the median home price in Honolulu reached a historical new high of $730K.

Then in January of 2016, the National Weather Service reported the lowest

Would Hawaii real estate be so expensive if not for foreign investors?

Probably not. Consider these facts:

The average sale price of homes sold to foreign buyers from 2008 to 2015 was $785,604 and the average sales price for mainlanders was $630,390. By comparison, the average sale price of homes sold to local buyers over the same period was $478,189.

So foreign buyers on average have spent 65% more than local buyers, while U.S. Mainland buyers have spent 32% more than local buyers. Also worthy of note is the quantity of homes being acquired: more than a quarter of homes sold in Hawaii are purchased by non-Hawaii residents. On neighbor islands, nearly half the homes are swept up by out-of-state investors.

New loan regulations may have had a negative impact on the U.S. real estate market, but national figures differ noticeably from the very resilient Oahu real estate market.

Reuters reported last month that “U.S. home resales posted their sharpest drop in five years in November,” a 10.5% drop from October 2015. While some may see this is a potential warning sign for the health of the U.S. economy (especially after last week’s stock market plunge), NAR economist Lawrence Yun suggests that new regulations on paperwork for home purchases may have driven the decline.

What new regulations?

If you’ve been looking into real estate recently, you may have seen the acronym T.R.I.D. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule Implementation (TRID) went into effect

Homes on Oahu sell for higher at this time of year than any other, which means now may be the ideal time to sell your home. If you’ve wanted to list your property but had trouble deciding when, here is some valuable information to consider.

Median home prices on Oahu have peaked in Nov/Dec in 3 of the last 4 years. Since the typical escrow period here is 45 days, the sales figures recorded in Nov/Dec reflect offers that were accepted in Sept/Oct. Historically, offers made in Sept/Oct are higher than the rest of the year. Check out the trends in the chart, below.

“These loans can be the difference between renting and ownership for families across O‘ahu.”
-Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell
Last week Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced that qualified low-income and moderate-income families can receive interest free loans for a down payment on home purchases. That day I called the DCS loan branch for more info and here’s what I found out.
The city will loan up to $40,000 to a borrower interest-free over a 20 year period.
But that’s not all!
For every year of owner-occupancy, the borrower will be credited 5% toward their loan balance. After ten years, about 50% of the balance should be paid off by the buyer while the other 50% will be paid off by credits. So only does the buyer get…

The first question we get from military clients PCSing to Hawaii is whether it's best to rent or own.

On one hand, renting seems to offer the very attractive prospect of immediate cash savings. If you rent lower than your BAH, that's extra money in your pocket, right away. On the other hand, a wise purchase can help you procureÂ tens of thousands of dollarsÂ in wealth ... way more than you'd have if you'd chosen to rent. This type of wealth is not as obvious or immediate as savings you might get from renting, so its value is often overlooked.

Do homeowners know something that renters don't? Are you missing out on key information that would help you plan your future? If you are planning to be in Hawaii for at least 3 years, here are a few details to

In a mere 5 years, Generation Y is projected to be the biggest age demographic in America. But that doesn't mean they'll wait until then to lead the nation in home-buying. Already, Gen Y is the largest share of the nation's homebuyers at 32%. Here are some other interesting generational trends in real estate.Â

Gen Y: 32% (1980-1995)Â

Gen Y had the largest share of first time buyers at 68%.

Gen Y buyers place high importance on finding affordable homes close to work.

39% of Gen Y buyers primarily purchased a home just for the desire to own a home of their own.

More than half of Gen Y buyers used a mobile device during their home search and of that group, 31% found the home they purchased this way.